188

A 2D SEMI-ANALYTICAL ME'THOD FOR THE CALCULATION OF EDDY

CURRENT LOSSES IN TRANSFORMER AND INDUCTANCE COILS

N.BURAIS,mi. AWOL
A. WOTOMALALA,

Centre de Genie Electrique de Lyon - ECL France -

Absfracf This paper presents a new method for the
calculation of eddy currents losses in hansfoma arid
inductance coils. The technique is hwd on using &ion
equation and introducing continuity conditions along the
boundaries. Numerical results using Finite Element Method
( E M ) and experimental results are l o w n to agree well the
theoretical results presented in the palm.
INTRODUCTION
The introduction of resonance in static converter
systems and improvements in the switching capabilities
of semi-conductors components has facilitated the
operation of static component devices under
increasingly higher frequencies. These devices are thus
subjected to secondary constraints like the losses dues
to eddy currents (dun and proximity effects) in the
passive magnetic elements as transformer and
inductance coils.
where A is the i ~ g n e t i cvector potential, a is the
diffusion constant and 6 is the skin depth. p an m are
the magnetic permeability and the electric conductivity
of the conductor Fespeaively. o represents the angular
frequency of the ament.
Modelling of conductors in coils
The method for modelling conductors in coils is
explained using a simple coil with 2 turns as shown in
Fig. 1. In the actual coil where the current has three
components shown in Fig. l(a), a long CPU time is
required to carry out a 3D analysis. Therefore, the coil
is approximated by a group of ring conductors with
equal currents as shown in Fig. l(b). This
approximation enables us to evaluate the induced
currents in the coil using the axisymmetric method (2D
analysis).

In order to obtain an accurate estimate of these losses, it ring conductor 1

is necessaly to calculate the eddy currents distribution
and also the circulating current. Although various
methods of evaluation have already been developed [l-
61, some problems involve eddy cRllTents developed in
thm skin depths and a numerical analysis. based on
classical methods such as the E M , is exuemely
laborious and time consuming 1:7]. Furthermore, the
related geometries are not usually simple enough to
permit a three-dimensional calculation for these conductor 2
problems.

A 2D semi-analytical m e t h a allowing prediction of

copper losses caused by eddy currents in transformer
and inductance coils as a function of various (a) 3 0 model (b) Axisymmetnc model
geometrical and electrical parameters is the object of
this paper. This should facilitate the optimisation of the Fig. I Cor1 (2 mms)
winding specifications for a given magnetic circuit with
a short calculation time involved. HYPOTHESIS

BASIS OF THE METHOD We suppose thai the tangential components of the

magnetic field is cmnstant on each side of the conductor
Fundamental equations (Fig. 2).

kvisymmetric magnetic fields with induced currents BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

are governed by the following diffusion equation:
Considering the previous hypothesis, the boundary
conditions are:

with

'Power Electronics and Variable-Speed Drives', 26 - 28 October 1994. Conference Puolicafron No. 399. G
' IEE, 1994

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 189

conductor

Fig. 2 The boundary conditions

RELATIONSHIP AMONG TANGENTIAL

f,(b)(H: +Hf)+2H,H;fz(b)
FIELDS AND LOSSES Py =--
a& c f,(b).
< .

Using the method of the variables separation in a two-

dimensional -gular system, the resolution of the 2
equation (la) with the previous boundary conditions P =-I1 (6g)
gives: os x y

where Otherwise, we obtain the currents I, and

P = H eJa-H'e-irw decomposing the 2D problem into two ID
We then have the following expressions:

+*
I, =2bJlJ,(x)(dx=2b.(HY-H;) (61)
--.
+b
I, = 2b IlJi(y)ldy =2b.(H, -HL) (6m)
-b

CALCULATION OF THE TANGENTIAL FIELDS

P = JjJi(x,y).Jf(x,y).dS
where J*i(x,y) denotes the conjugate of Ji(x,y).
Considering a current density J in the studied conductor
(Fig. 3). the components of the magnetic field created
by this distribution in each point in space is given by
(5) the following integrals [SI:

Then, combining equations (4) and (5), the total losses

can be decomposed in three parts Px, Py and Pv such
as:
P = P, +Py +Pv (6a)

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 190

EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

An air-cored winding with 3 turns shown in Fig. 5 is

analysed so as to venfy the method. The conductivity of
the conductor is S,62x107S/m.

Table 1 shows the comparison between the measured

resistance R by using a HP 4284A impedance
analyser, any
the calculated one %, for some

w 1 conductor
frequencies.

center line of
~ / thecoil
Fig. 3 Thefield outtide the studied conductor

Calculation of the excitation field

We suppose that the current density J in the studied

conductor is constant. We determine analyt~callythe
previous integrals and we then have the components of
the excitation field.

Calculation of the armature reaction

4
The determination of the ~!~on-uniformcurrent
distribution induced on the surface of the studied
conductor is done as won as we have the excitation
field. Using equations (7a) and (7b), the components of
the magnetic field created by this current distribution
are determined numerically by the method of Gauss [9].
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE MAGNETIC
CIRCUITS F Calculated Measured Error
The essence of the method consists in replacing the (m) %(&) (%)
effects of a boundary of an applied field by simple 1 1,125 1,051 7,04
distributions of currents or charges behind the 10 3,158 3,010 4,91
boundary line (called images). The desired field is then
given by the sum of the applied and image fields [IO]. 100 9,906 9,823 0,84

R -R,
line of x100 (Yo)
\I center
E = L
thecoil
\ Rm
T h m calculations agree
measurements.
quite well with the

COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PROPOSED

2d METHOD AND THE FEM
k-7
1, Fcondyctor An iron cored coil with 3 turns shown in Fig. 6 is
analysed in order to illustrate effectiveness of the
image method. The conductivity of the conductor, the exciting
current and the relative permeability of the core are
5,6x107S/rn, 20 A and 100 respeaively (the eddy
' core. current in the core is neglected).

Fig. 7 shows the comparison between the total loss

versus frequency obtained from the proposed method
Fig. 4 Method of images and this obtained using FEM.

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 191

The method is faster to give reliable d t s - w i t h a

reasonable computation time and shouid faditate the
optimisation of the winding speclfiations for a given
magnetic circuit.
ccnter line of One important application of the method is to compute
thecoil the e m losses in power U o r m e r windings. For
this, work is currently being undertaken to include
conductivity Variations with temperanue for the
caidaaon of thermal dissipation and the notion of
"macro elmenu" would be inuoduced to optimise
computer Qicuiation times.

REFERENCES
I ] Kond3A.. Tddv Current and Modelling" (Invited), 1985.
Ad.. MAG-d. 5. 1805.
21 Koyad. A. "IntcgrodiffcrcnriolFinite Element Formulanon of
f wo-l)tmmnond Steadvstate Skin Effect Problems". 1982
Trans.Mapncocs. MAGlSJ, 284.

41 Gorao..& C h q i V.V.K. and Ceodcs, W.. ?(nu F ~ a

!3ment Tccnruqucs ;or Skm €&cc Problems". 1982 Ibid.. MAG
450.
Fig. 6 Geometry of rhc i m c o d coil W e i u J and Cenda Z.J. 'Etticient Finin Element Solunon
k?Muinpatn- 3 d y Current Prbblcms*. 1982 h d . . WAG18. 6.
1710.

Total loss (w)

f] Hage 6.. 7 h e principle .of Elarmmagnctism Applied to

lccmcai'. 1962Dover publrcanons N.Y.
91 Stmua AH. and Sec= -N=
D.. "G~USS~M
kormulacs'. 1966, h c c - H a l l New-Yok
F O ] F e r " J.A. "Elarmmagnetic Mcddling of P o w
lecrronic Gnvcnen', 1989. Kluwer AcJdcm~cPumshm.

c++++:m
:- proposed methcd
Fig. 7 Total loss u i n g the prog0Jed method and the FEM

It canbe sun that the calculated results arc in good

agea"et with those obtained using FEU

CONCLUSIONS
Ancw method for the calculation of eddy currents losses
in transformen and inductance coils was presented in
this paper. The technique is based on using diffusion
equation and introducing continuity conditions along
thc boundaries.

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